“Real Mindfulness is found through your BODY, cultivated through the sacred doorway of the senses and often through a process of inquiry and quiet reflection (*and ideally through your shared presence with a live instructor).

Mindfulness is a relationship you cultivate with your thoughts, emotions, patterns, conditioning, and behaviors. It's a path to understanding why you do what you do. It's a pathway to more choice and less reactivity. It has to be experienced to be understood and even then, words can't really describe it.

It's also not a magic bullet.

It doesn't create a perpetual state of happiness or bliss but it can make you considerably happier and well-balanced with far less life drama and exhaustion. It can enhance self-awareness and emotional intelligence.

And for a young soccer coach trapped in a cave with his team last year, mindfulness was proven to help be a life saver for 12 precious kids. Mindfulness definitely saved mine not too many years ago.

But the real daily practices of mindfulness are not on your phone or your meditation cushion; but in your daily LIFE-- your relationships, and your work.

Your life IS the practice. You just have to slow down long enough to pay attention.

(And that app you depend on, may just be another crutch.)

Mindfulness is as much of an art as it is a healing science.

Meditation... is just ONE of many tools we use in mindfulness training, in service to a way of being fully embodied, openhearted, integrated, in balance, and awake. Many people dont know enough about it yet to understand the depth of what that actually means. My personal practice reveals something greater time after time.

Mindfulness training can be messy, scary, imperfect, and sometimes unpredictable. Even in a lighter, more playful course it takes courage to enter the body and mind fully.

Mindfulness IS so much more-- beyond just meditation-- reducing it to that is doing it a major injustice. “

Weight loss really cannot be subject to a time frame, lose weight in 30 days, 8 weeks, 12 weeks. We are all different, have different goals, we have different stressors, we are motivated by different factors, in truth it takes a lifetime because it’s a lifestyle change. Weight loss is different for every individual. In fact I think weight loss is really the wrong term. Don’t we all really want fat loss?

Some say it takes 21 days to break a habit but research will show it takes 12 weeks to establish a new habit and if we remove one what is gonna replace it? Truth is a happy healthy, lean body is only achieved thru change of lifestyle. It can't be done overnight. Especially gaining lean muscle. Do you know it take approximately 4 months to truly gain muscle mass density that will impact your physique? It is learning to eat correctly, exercise daily, manage our stress and to change our overall mindset. Focus on the daily small steps that lead you to the goal. And most of all enjoy the journey. Yes you will fail on the journey you will make mistakes and mess up! But those are lessons that will teach you along the way. Those lessons should allow you the flexibility to tweak your goals and plan to fit your life. Because you know the gym is one thing. It’s maybe an hour of your day and food prep and such another but your mindset is everything. And if you choose the wrong key for your lock so to speak don’t quit try another key! Find the key to your door of success!

There is no rocket science to eating right. There are 1000's of "diets" to follow, pills and potions to swallow but none of them work. You may lose initially but in the long run, you will gain the weight back, plus more. In truth permanent weight loss comes down to two things CONSISTENCY AND DISCIPLINE.

Exercise only will not give you weight loss success. Yes, it's an amazing tool when you're eating correctly and a very important activity to consider in keeping your body mobile, functional and healthy but exercise is only part of the equation. Food is another. And most importantly behavior modification and stress management.

Changing your physique is difficult. If it was easy we would all be walking around fit and lean!!

"Choose to go to the gym when it would be more comfortable to sleep in. Choose to do the tenth rep when it would be more comfortable to quit at nine. Choose to create something special when it would be more comfortable to consume something mediocre.

Choose to raise your hand and ask that extra question when it would be more comfortable to stay silent.

Prove to yourself, in hundreds of little ways, that you have the guts to get in the ring and wrestle with life....."

In life, patience is not about waiting; it’s the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard on your dreams and desires, knowing that the work is worth it. So if you’re going to try, put in the time and go all the way. Otherwise, there’s no point in starting. This could mean losing stability and comfort for a while, and maybe even your mind on occasion. It could mean not eating what, or sleeping where, you’re used to, for weeks on end. It could mean stretching your comfort zone so thin it gives you a nonstop case of the chills. It could mean sacrificing relationships and all that’s familiar. It could mean accepting ridicule from your peers. It could mean lots of time alone in solitude. Solitude, though, is the gift that makes great things possible. It gives you the space you need. Everything else is a test of your determination, of how much you really want it.

Motivation is the reason you take the step. It is the general desire to reach for something to strive towards a goal. BUT Motivation does not get you to your goals. When the road gets rocky when your plan falls apart IT IS Determination that does. Determination is not simply not giving up. It is no matter how hard things get, or how badly you want to give up, you persist, you resolve you stand firm in the purpose of what you are doing no matter the obstacles you find the path that leads to your success. It is the internal drive to fulfill your goal dream or desire.

"Learn to love yourself for where you are RIGHT NOW. From the bottom of your core, love every inch of YOU regardless of what you want to change about yourself. You can NOT go anywhere without self love. Sure you can take a few steps forward, but that lack of love will always creep back. Instead, make an agreement with yourself, like you would for your best friend, and agree to LOVE, agree to laugh and agree to release yourself from the constant notion that you always need to improve. It is only then, when you accept yourself lovingly, for the way you are, that you will find that yellow brick road of endless possibilities. It all starts with LOVE"-

If you need to exert willpower to achieve what you want, there’s an internal conflict happening inside you.

According to research, “willpower is like a muscle. It’s a finite resource that depletes with use. By the end of a strenuous day when you’ve been forced to exert willpower – when you’ve had to stop yourself from eating that candy bar a hundred times over – your willpower is exhausted. You are exhausted.”

We must first realize what internal conflicts we have that prevent us from committing to the decision to change then create the conditions/the environment to effect change.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” according to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you decide what you want, there is no more need to think about it. The decision has been made.

When you are committed you will create regimens to sustain your choice. You will create the environment to succeed. You will follow the path and practices that are aligned with your goal(s).

“We naturally adapt to our environments. Conscious evolution involves purposefully surrounding ourselves with people that are reflections of who we want to become and creating environments that are conducive to what we want to achieve.“

Change your mindset. Stop relying on willpower and setting yourself up for failure. Create your environment conducive to your goals. Surround yourself with likeminded people. Your success will happen organically almost effortlessly. Your environment, and the people who are in it, is the best indicator of the life you’ll live.

Stop fighting yourself. Vow to resolve internal conflict about your choices and set the task of real change!

Imbalances in the spine create chain reactions throughout the body. When something is wrong in one part of the body, it translates up through the spine.

Doing the same exercises in a dysfunctional pattern will NOT make them improve.

Back up

Reassess

Fix the dysfunction first

You will be amazed!

For example a Kettlebell swing is NOT a squat!!!

Most people squat their swing rather than making it a "hip snap." The bell should never drop below knee level. Ever. When it does, you're increasing the arc of the swing and placing more stress on the lower back.

It should come from a hip hinge thrust.

First off you must have proper pelvic mobility or you will engage from your lower back.

The theory: If you keep adding small amounts of food to your fire (the fire being your metabolism), you will keep it going strong and burn more calories overall.

The reality: Food intake has a negligible effect on metabolism. Some foods, including those with caffeine, may slightly and temporarily increase metabolism, but the effect is too small to help you lose weight. What most affects your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the rate at which your body burns calories at rest, is body composition and size. More muscles and bigger bodies generally burn more calories overall.

Your best bet for sustained fat loss is to build muscles.

There are other benefits to eating 5-6 micro meals such as preventing binge eating and leveling blood glucose in those who have issues with BG levels. However in my experience both of those may be affected through providing balanced, varied, high quality nutrition.

Typically if we have "cravings" we are either not meeting appropriate macro or micronutrients in our dietary intake.

Choose the right plan for you. Remember a successful plan is a sustainable plan.

Overall to lose weight you need to be in slight deficit. To gain muscle you need to be in slight surplus AND train hard enough.

Diets do work... temporarily. You can label yourself & your way of eating however you’d like Keto, Raw, Paleo, the list goes on....

The problem is a diet is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. You must be brave enough to figure out what’s the real issue(s)!

Shame guilt fear reward stress exhaustion boredom pleasure ..... can you pull the thread? Unravel what’s the underlying issue? Because the issue is not food. Can you say that out loud? THE ISSUE IS NOT THE FOOD ITS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD.

If you can’t feel okay with that there is something to consider.....pull the thread, peel back the veil, stop trying to be strong and allow yourself to be vulnerable and explore that relationship. Be curious. Be fully alive and aware. Feel deeply. It’s ok to feel all those things you are human. And its ok to indulge once in a while without feelings of guilt, shame and regret, food is comforting it has emotional connections to experience, to people in our lives, to memories. Maybe you need to take a step back and ask yourself what is your end goal really? Restricted deprivation and bingeing or sustainability allowing pleasure joy and comforting and nurturing? Listen to your body’s cues. Honor them.

So stop pursuing your goal body or goal weight in an unsustainable way! Heal your relationship with your body and make peace with food first!

Instead of labeling your way of eating, or living by lists of “good foods” and “bad foods” what if you starting to LISTEN to your body & it’s innate wisdom, and allowing yourself to live the healthiest life possible... in terms of both WHAT you’re eating and HOW YOU FEEL about it!!

I know this is easier said than done it takes patience and practice. Not perfection. Practice.

“live your higher purpose in harmony with the universe by venturing along a mindful path of enlightened actions and vibrant relationships which open for you worlds of possibility where you experience the beautiful in every step. “

When it comes to setting fitness and health goals look to start building a lifestyle rather than looking for short cuts and quick fixes.

Too many people driven to lose weight after the holidays join in on a detox, 30 day weight loss challenge or starvation diet. They go from zero to 100 mph in two seconds- resolving to drink more water, not touch alcohol ever, zero carbs and sugar, workout every day.the list of extreme goes on……

Good intentions do not necessarily reflect success

Remember THE GOAL IS NOT TO JUST LOSE WEIGHT. It’s to create a sustainable lifestyle that allows you to keep it off and actually live your life.

On your journey of weight loss don't forget to also keep the big picture in mind. To be successful in losing and keeping weight off you must be patient consistent and keep perspective.

Focus on doing things the right way not the "easy" way. Have patience and understand the process will not be painless or perfect. You can't give up at the first sign of struggle. If you miss a workout, it's just one missed workout. You don't need to start over. You don't need to give up. LEARN FROM IT! Adapt. Adjust. Move on. If you slipped up and made some poor diet choices- guess what.... EVERYONE DOES! Just get back on track and KEEP GOING. No need to punish yourself with extra cardio or time in the gym no need to further restrict your calories

“Letting go isn’t about having the ability and courage to release the past—it’s about having the wisdom and strength to embrace the present. It’s not about forgetting—it’s about remembering without fear. It’s stepping forward, untethered, with a present mind and a lesson learned.”

How can you bring calm and peace to the middle of a stress-ful, chaotic day?

What if I told you the simple choice of being present or being mindful would change your outlook? That practicing those things would bring a sense of calm and peace to your day?

No matter how out-of-control your day is, no matter how stressful your job or life becomes, the act of being present can become an oasis. It can change your life, and it’s incredibly simple.

We can work to be more mindful in everyday. It doesn’t have to be a special time or place.

Bringing mindfulness to the activities we already choose to include in our lives is a great way to start. Many of these activities—gardening, running, biking, and swimming come to mind though the list is long—already have a kind of natural quiet to them. So it’s not a big leap, and it can be time well spent in more ways than one.

Regardless of how you define success, you don’t suddenly become successful. You become successful over time based on your rituals.

In my opinion its not motivation per se that drives you. It is determination through development of a plan that series of events those daily rituals that truly decide success.

This is why we complete goal sheets that include stepping stone goals and behavior modification goals. It’s important to outline the plan for success in finite details at times.

We often fail to realize fitness and health goals are no different than other life goals. You want to become a doctor or nurse? There’s the schooling clinicals/residency then the profession. You want to own a home same thing a plan to work, save, peruse, negotiate then buy. Even something as simple as making coffee has steps to brew the perfect cup. So why would our health and fitness goals be different? Truth is they are not. They require rituals. Those routine daily steps towards your goals.

Yep truth is becoming fit and healthy takes work. It takes consistency. It is not a linear path. There will be tougher days than others. There will be days you fail. That’s all part of the journey. But your rituals will keep you determined towards your goals and striving towards success. That’s why they are so important. Sure someone may motivate you but that’s is only an external cue. We as humans need internal cues like drive determination and ritual to truly shine.